Card-retrieving method and apparatus

ABSTRACT

A card-retrieving method and apparatus capable of retrieving a card carrying desired information from a random series of cards. The cards are formed at their bottom edges with notches corresponding to the information on the cards, and when a card is to be retrieved all of the cards are raised by a pair of bars one of which is selected in accordance with the desired information. The selected bar will be aligned with a notch corresponding to the desired information, so that a card which has the latter notch will receive the selected bar in its notch while all of the remaining cards will be raised without having any bars received in the notches thereof. As a result, the card which is to be retrieved will tilt about one bar while having the selected bar received in its notch, so that a bottom corner of the card which is to be retrieved will project beyond all the other cards. This bottom corner is held at the elevation to which it is initially raised by a suitable structure while all of the cards are again lowered, so that only the card which is to be retrieved remains in a tilted position at the elevation to which it was initially raised. This tilted card will, as a result of the lowering of the remainder of the cards, project freely at a top corner above all of the other cards so that the card to be retrieved can be readily removed as a result of its projection at an upper corner from all of the cards after the lowering of the latter.

United States Patent [1 1 Takeda CARD-RETRIEVING METHOD AND APPARATUS [76] inventor: Kuichi Takeda, No. 15-13,

l-likari-cho 2-chome, Kokubunji-shi, Tokyo, Japan [22] Filed: Oct. 27, 1972 [2]] Appl. No.: 301,481

Primary Examiner-Allen N. Knowles Attorney, Agent, or FirmSteinberg & Blake [57] ABSTRACT A card-retrieving'method and apparatus capable of Mar. 26, 1974 retrieving a card carrying desired information from a random series of cards. The cards are formed at their bottom edges with notches corresponding to the information on the cards, and when a card is to be retrieved all of the cards are raised byv a pair of bars one of which is selected in accordance with the desired information. The selected bar will be aligned with a notch corresponding to the desired information, so that a card which has the latter notch will receive the selected bar in its notch while all of the remaining cards will be raised without having any bars received in the notches thereof. As a result, the card which is to be retrieved will tilt about one bar while having the selected bar received in its notch, so that a bottom corner of the card which is to be retrieved will project beyond all the other cards. This bottom corner is held at the elevation to which it is initially raised by a suitable structure while all of the cards are again lowered, so that only the card which is to be retrieved remains in a tilted position at the elevation to which it was initially raised. This tilted card will, as a result of the lowering of the remainder of the cards, project freely at a top corner above all of the other cards so that the card to be retrieved can be readily removed as a result of its projection at an upper comer from all of the cards after the lowering of the latter.

12 Claims, 15 Drawing Figures PMENTEU IARZB I874 SHEET 1 OF 5 Mi li: wN lk N L H PAIENIEBIARZG m4 sum 2 or 5 PAIENIEDmzsum 3399.335

SHEEI 5 (IF 5 CARD-RETRIEVING METHOD AND APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to systems for retrieving cards.

As is well known, it is possible to place items of information on cards and to hold the cards in a suitable container where they are arranged in a random series. When it is desired toextract from the random series of cards a given card which has a certain item of desired information thereon, it is necessary to act on the cards in such a way that the one or more cards with the desired information thereon can easily be separated from the other cards. This is conventionally brought about through extremely complex mechanisms which are very costly and which do not always operate in the most reliable manner.

One easy way of achieving the desired results is to arrange along the edges of the cards lugs which project from an edge ofa card with the location of the lugs corresponding to the information on the cards. If such lugs are located at the bottom edges of the cards then the cards can rest on bars with the lugs-engaging the bars. With such an arrangement it is only necessary to select a bar whose position corresponds to the location of a lug corresponding to the desired information, and by raising this selected bar, a card whose lug is at the location corresponding to the desired information will be raised above the other cards so that the upwardly projecting card or cards can readily be extracted. Of course, it is possible to perform a series of such operations according to which a first group of cards all having a certain item of information are selected from a large group, and then the selected group will have the above operations repeated thereon until one card having a desired combination of items and information will be finally selected. Thus it is possible with procedures as set forth above to eventually retrieve a card having desired information thereon, even though the repetitions of the operations may require an undesirably long interval. V

However, cards of the above type suffer from a serious drawback of being relatively weak at the location where the lugs project therefrom.'These projecting lugs are readily broken or cut off during operation of the apparatus and during handling of the cards for storage purposes.

Of course, it would be far better to form in an edge of the card notches whose positions correspond to the different items of'information so that in this -way the cards will be much stronger and will have a much longer useful life-In addition, it is much easier to form notches than to provide projecting lugs. However, the difficulty with such notched cards is that it is far more difficultto select in a single operation that one card which has the desired information thereon due to the fact that it is much more difficult to pick out the position of a notch than to pickout the position of a lug.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention toprovide a method and apparatus according to which it becomes possible very quickly and easily to retrieve a card having a notched edge from the remainder of a random series of cards, so that in this way it is possible to give the cards a much longer operating life while at the same time being capable of retrieving a desired card in a simple rapid manner.

In addition it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus according to which a single retrieving operation requiring only a few seconds will result in retrieving of the desired card.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus which are not very costly, so that it is possible to construct the apparatus of the invention and to practice the method of the invention at a relatively low cost.

With the method of the invention it is possible to retrieve a card from a random series of upright cards of the same size arranged one behind the next with the front face of one card engaging the rear face of the next-preceding card and with the cards having their bottom edges formed with notches corresponding to items of information on the cards. The cards rest at their bottom edges on a series of parallel bars over which the notches are located and all of which have top edges initially located at the same elevation. All of the cards also rest at their bottom edges on an additional bar which is parallel to and situated beyond the above series of bars and which has a top edge also initially at the same elevation as the top edges of the series of bars. This additional bar and one of the series of bars whose position corresponds to the position of a notch on the card which is to be retrieved are both raised simultaneously upwardly with respect to the remainder of the series of bars so that all of the cards will be raised by the pair of raised bars. In this way, a card which has a notch aligned with the selected one of the series of bars which is raised upwardly beyond the others will tilt downwardly around the additional barto receive the raised one of the series of bars in its notch. As a result of this tilting movement of the card which is to be retrieved, a bottom corner thereof will project on one side beyond all of the other cards. This projecting bottom corner is held at the elevation to which it is initially raised while all of the remaining cards are lowered back to their initial elevation. As a result a top corner of the card which is to be retrieved projects freely above all of the other cards to facilitate ready removal of the card which is to be retrieved from the remainder of the cards.

With the apparatus of the invention an elevationchanging means is operatively connected with the above additional bar as well as with the series of selecting bars for simultaneously raising the additional bar and a selected bar whose position corresponds to the location of a notch in the card to be retrieved. A selecting means is provided to coact with the elevationchanging means so that the latter operates to raise the additional bar plus the one selected bar fromthe series of selecting bars, and therefore in this way the apparatus operates to raise all of the cards while permitting thecard to'be retrieved to tilt while receiving in its notch the raised selecting bar. A holding means holds the projecting bottom corner of the tilted card so that the latter does not move back down with the rest of the cards when the bars are lowered back to their original elevation, and'thus' a top corner of the card to be retrieved projects freely above the remainder of the cards, thus enabling the proper card to be readily removed from the random series of cards.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of this application and in which:

FIGS. lalc illustrate the manner in which notches are arranged along a bottom edge of the cards to correspond to items of information which are on the cards;

FIGS. 2u-2d illustrate schematically stages in the method of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating the manner in which the bars are raised;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, schematic top plan view of one possible embodiment of a machine according to the invention;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the machine of FIG. 4 schematically illustrating further details of the structure;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary top plan view showing the structure at the right end of FIG. 4 at a larger scale and illustrating the further details of the structure of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a transverse sectional elevation taken along line VII-VII of FIG. 5 in the direction of the arrows;

successive FIG. 8 is a fragmentary sectional elevation taken along line VIII-VIII of FIG. 4 in the direction of the arrows and showing in elevation part of the structure which is shown in a plan view in FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary sectional elevation taken along line IX-IX of FIG. 6 in the direction of the arrows and showing further details of the structure of FIGS. 6 and 8', and

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary sectional elevation taken along line X-X of FIG. 6 in the direction of the arrows and showing more details of the selecting means an elevation-changing means which are illustrated in FIGS. 6, 8, and 9.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Thecards of the invention may have a construction as illustrated in FIGS. Ia-lc. Thus, each card is made of a relatively thick paper which may be relatively stiff, and the cards will preferably have the rectangular configuration illustrated in the drawings with all of the cards being of the same size. An edge of each card, the bottom edge in the illustrated example, is formed with notches in accordance with the items of information which are on the cards. These notches are of a rectangular configuration and their positions are determined in accordance with the different items of information. Thus, each card may have either a single notch or a plurality of notches situated at different positions in accordance with the items of information. A card representing an individual such as a client of a practitioner in any professional field, for example, may be provided with different notch positions in accordance with various items of information such as the occupation of the client, the age of the client, the residence of the client, etc. All the cards which are prepared in this manner are stored in a suitable case in a random series. Of course, all cards which have the same items of information thereon will have the same arrangement of notches. However, because of the differences between individuals, in the above example, there is only a small possibility of any two cards having identical patterns of notches. Moreover, it is possible in any given situation to'have several thousands or even tens of thousands of cards of the above type, sometimes even several hundreds of thousands, from which selections must be made.

Assuming that there are five different notch positions for respectively receiving five information units 0, I, 2, 4 and 7, respectively, then it is possible to express ten differentitems of information respectively corresponding to items 0-9. This is easily brought about because in addition to items 0, 1, 2, 4 and 7, which can he identified by single notches, combinations of notches can be used for the remaining items. For example notches and positions 1 and 2 can be used in combination to designate item 3, item 5 can be designated by two different notches both situated at locations 1 and 4, item 6 by two different notches situated at locations 2 and 4, item 8 by two different notches situated at locations 1 and 7 and finally 9 by two different notches located at the positions of notches 2 and 7. Thus, these five different notch positions may be considered as a group which forms one division of an edge of each card. Assuming that there are now four or five different divisions on each card, then it is clear that it is possible to provide ten thousand or even a hundred thousand cards all having different items of information thereon.

By way of example, FIGS. la-lc illustrate three different specific cards each of which has four different edge divisions. Although only three different cards are shown, it is to be understood that ten thousand different cards can be prepared by situating the notches at desired positions in each of the four different edge divisions T,, T T and 1",.

As has already been indicated above, it is not easy to pick out in a rapid and reliable manner a card carrying a specific set of information from a card case in which a relatively large number of notched cards are arranged in a random series. As was indicated above, it would be possible to achieve this result very readily with lugs rather than notches, but lugs have the disadvantages referred to above.

However, with the method of the invention, illustrated schematically in FIGS. 2a-2d, it is indeed possible to retrieve a card carrying a predetermined item of information from a random series of cards. FIG. 2a shows the front card C of a series of randomly arranged cards which are situated one behind the next resting on their bottom notched edges. For convenience of explanation, the cards are shown as having only one notch in a single edge division. As is apparent from FIGS. la-lc as well as FIGS. 2a-2d, the notches are formed in the bottom edges of the cards only along right portions of these bottom edges. There are no notches adjacent the left ends of the cards. However, in addition to several selecting bars which are referred to below, there is an additional bar B on which all of the cards rest at the left end regions of the cards where there are not notches. All of the bars extend perpendicularly to the cards so that the bottom edges of the cards extend perpendicularly across the bars. Thus, the bar B extends beneath the entire series of cards. There is illustrated a further bar b, which is one of a series of selecting bars which is selected if its location corresponds to the location of the notch which is indicative of the desired information in the card which is to be retrieved. Thus, in the schematic simplified illustration of the method of the invention shown in FIGS. 2a-2d, it is assunied that the bar b is that one of a series of selecting bars which has a location corresponding to the location of a notch in the card which is to be retrieved. FIGS. 2a-2d further illustrate schematically in dot-dash lines the card case in which the series of cards are located.

For the sake of clarity of illustration, FIGS. 2a-2d do not illustrate the rest of the selecting bars which are located beneath the notches. However, as will be apparent from the description which follows, all of the bars are simultaneously raised while only the bar B and the bar b are raised higher than the remainder of the bars so that all of the cards will be raised by the bars B and b, to an elevation above all of the other bars so that all of the cards will rest only upon the two bars illustrated in FIGS. 2a-2d.

While FIG. 2a shows the initial elevation of the cards and the bars, FIG. 2b shows an intermediate elevation of the cards and bars during raising thereof up toward the highest elevation which is illustrated in FIG. 2c.

Thus, it will be noted that at the stage of the method of the invention which is-illustrated in FIG. 2b, one of the cards C, has started to tilt in a clockwise direction about the bar 8' while the selected bar b is received in the notch of this one card C During the continued upward movement of the bars, the tilting of the card C around'the bar B continues while the upper edge region of the bar b is received to an increasing extent in the will not tilt and will remain in their horizontal positions resting with their bottom edges on both of the raised bars.

In' this way the .card which is to be retrieved will project at one bottom corner from the remainder of the cards. In order to prevent the card C from frictionally retaining other cards which are initially raised therewith, it is possible to vibrate all of thecards and thus make sure that only the card which is to be retrieved will tilt with respect to the remainingc ards. However, in some cases such vibration will not be required depending upon the quality of the cards and upon the extent of frictional engagement therebet-ween. The extent to which the card is inclinedat the-stage of the method illustrated inFIG. 2c is generally insufficientto enable the-card which is to be retrieved from being conveniently removed from the remainder of the cards. However, by applying the vibrations at the 'momentwhen the barsreach their highest position or immediatelybefore the barsreach their highest position, the card- C, which is tobe retrieved will be inclined to the maximum extent. r I

"The tilted card C, will have its bottom left corner,'as viewed in FIG-52c, engaged by e holding'means F which serves to hold the tilted card at the elevation to which it has been raised inthemanner described above. This holding means takes the form of a stepF formed in the sideof the card case and onto whichthe bottom-left corner of the CaI'd Cfl'ldBS during tilting of the card. Thus, the stepped'portio'n F at the side of the card case is situated-eta proper elevation for'receiving'the left bottom corner of the particular card which tilts to receive the raised select bar b, in its notch.

At the final step of the method of the invention the bars B and b, are lowered to their initial elevation, with the result that all of the cards except the card C, are also lowered to their initial elevation, the card C being held in its tilted position by the holding means F. The vibrations may continue during this operation and with all of the cards being vibrated only the inclined card C, will be held by the stepped portion F, so that this particular card C remains while the remaining cards are lowered.

- As a result, at the end of the method of the invention, which is illustrated in FIG. 2d, the card C, will project freely above the remainder of the cards,-forming a projecting portion P at its top left corner, and this projecting portion P is sufficiently great to facilitate removal of the card C, without any dfficulty. The operator need only grasp the card C, at its projecting corner P and remove it from the remainder of the random series of cards.

With the above mentod ofthe invention as long as the operating cycle shown in'FlGS. 2a-2d is carried out in a relatively small number of seconds with suitable vibration, it is possible to retrieve a particular card which has the desired information thereon out ofa large number of cards in a rapid and accurate manner.

FIGS. 4-10 illustrate one possible apparatus according to the invention capable of carrying out the method of the invention. Referring first to FIGS. 4 and 5, it will be seen that the illustrated structure includes a series of horizontal parallel selecting bars one group of which are designated b b b b and b Additional bars of further groups are also illustrated. Each group of bars is associated with a given one of the edge divisions T T T and T., on the cards as described above in connection with FIGS. lz z-lc. The cards are situated in a card case 11 carried by a housing S of the illustrated apparatus. The cards are arranged one behind the next in an upright position within the card case 11 with the bottom edges of the cards resting on the selecting bars all of which are situated to one side at the region of one end of the cards, as is apparent particularly from FIG. 7. As may be seen from FIG. 5, each of the selecting bars isformed with a pair of inclined slots 13 which have the same inclination and which may extend, for example, at an angle of 45 to the vertical. A pair of rod means extend through all of these slots 13, the pair of rod means including the pair of elongated rod portions 12 one of which is also shown most clearly in FIG. 7. Thus, the pair of rods 12 extend horizontally through all of the slots 13 perpendicularly to the bars so as to support the latter with the bars normally resting at the top ends of their slots 13 on the pair of rods 12. Thus,

the several selecting bars-will initially have the positions shown for the selecting bar b inFIG. 5.

As is shown in FIG. 4, inaddition to the several selecting bars referred to above and located to oneside at the region of one of the ends of the cards, as shown in'FIG. 7, there is an additional bar B, which is located at the region of the other ends of the series of cards, and'this additional bar B is also formed with a pair of slotsll'o identical with those shown in FIG. 5 for the bar b and also supported by the rod means. Thus, the rod means includes in addition to the rod portions 12 which extends through the series of selecting bars relatively short rod portions 14, one of which is indicated in FIG.

4, these rod portions 14 being coaxial with the rod portions 12 and extending through the slots of the additional bar B. The rod means 12,14 are carried by a support means which participates in the support of the cards, this support means including the bars themselves inasmuch as the cards rest at their bottom edges on the bars. The part of the support means which carries the pair of rod means each of which is formed by the coaxial rod portions 12 and 14 takes the form of a bed 15 in the form of a substantially rigid block of any suitable wood, plastic, metal, or the like, which is formed with longitudinal slits in which the several bars are all freely movable in a vertical direction and which is formed with transverse bores to receive the rod means. The bed 15 is formed with vertical bores which slidably receive the guide posts 16 which are in the form of upright posts which remain stationary so that these posts 16 serve to guide the bed 15 and all of the structure carried thereby for vertical movement. The posts 16 directly carry the card case 11 so that when the bed 15 is raised the cards in the case 11 will move upwardly with respect to the latter. The structure includes a substantially rigid base 17 which is fixed to the lower ends of the posts 16, as shown most clearly in FIG. 7.

The base 17 also serves to carry a vibrating means formed by a pair of conventional vibrator units V and in addition the base 17 of the support means serves to carry a motor M which is rotatable in both forward and reverse directions in a controlled manner and which forms part of an elevation-changing means as referred to below.

Through a suitable gear-reduction unit the motor M drives a pinion 18 (FIG. 4) which meshes with a longitudinally shiftable horizontal rack 19. Thus, the rack 19 will shift either to the right or the left, as viewed in FIGS. 4 and 5, depending upon the direction of the rotation of the motor M. The rack 19 in turn meshes with a pair of gears 20, one of which is shown in FIG. 7. These gears 20 are fixed to rotary shafts 21 supported at their ends for rotary movement in bearings carried by all portions of the base 17. Each shaft 21 carries a pair of earns 22 of the elevation-changing means, and each cam 22 has an outer camming periphery extending along a spiral around the shaft 21. The configuration of the cams 22 is apparent from FIG. 5. The several earns 22 respectively engage at their outer peripheries follower rollers 23 respectively supported for free rotary movement on pins which are carried by the bed 15. Rollers 23 engaging cams 22 are illustrated in FIG. 7. Thus, the rollers 23 are continuously maintained in engagement with the camming peripheries of the earns 22 by the weight of the bed 15 and the structure carried thereby.

Thus, with the structure as thus far described above, when the motor M is rotated in one direction during an initial part of an operating cycle of the elevationchanging means, the rack 19 will be shifted toward the right, as viewed in FIG. 5, thus rotating the cams 22 in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 5, and as a result portions of the cams 22 of increasingly larger radius will be displaced into engagement with the follower rollers 23 raising the latter and the bed 15 therewith, this bed 15 being guided upwardly by the posts 16 as described above. As a result, each rod means 12, 14, and thus all of the bars will move upwardly with the bed 15. When, however, during a latter part of each operating cycle of the elevation-changing means the motor M is rotated in the reverse direction, the earns 22 will rotate in a clockwise direction back toward their initial positions, as seen in FIG. 5, and thus the bed 15 and all of the structure carried thereby will be lowered back to the initial elevation. The circuitry which is operatively connected with the motor M for rotating the latter first in one direction and then in the opposite direction during each operating cycle is not illustrated but such circuitry is well known to those skilled in the art and can take many different forms.

As is apparent from FIG. 5 as well as FIGS. 8 and 10, each of the bars is provided at its right end, as viewed in FIGS. 5, 8, and 10 with an inclined edge e. A plurality of coaxial rotary cams E have inclined camming edges engaging the inclined end edges e of the several bars which include all of the selecting bars as well as the additional bar B. All of the rotary cams E which include the rotary cams E shown in FIG. 9 and E as shown in FIGS. 8 and 10 are mounted for free rotary movement on a stationary shaft 24 which is fixedly carried at its ends by the framework which forms part of the support means. FIG. 6 shows in addition to the several cams E which cooperate with the several selecting bars, respectively, the rotary cam E whose inclined camming edge engages the inclined end edge of the additional bar B.

Each of the rotary cams E includes three stop projections or teeth f,,f and f As will be apparent from the description below only one stop tooth is used at each of the cams E, but they are all formed with three of these stop teeth so that they can be mass produced with an identical construction. Thus all of the cams E can be punched economically with a single die. Assuming that three cams E are sequentially considered with these cams arranged in side-by-side relation, then if the first of the three cams functions at its stop f,, the next cam will operate with its stopf and the third cam will operate with its stop f and so on with the next-following cam operating at its stop projections f By reason of this construction it is possible to arrange the several cams E and the selecting bars compactly closely beside each other while controlling the selection with a selecting means which includes electromagnets, the width of which is greater than the spacing between successive selecting bars. Thus, FIG. 6 shows in a plan view a series of electromagnets R of the selecting means arranged so as to cooperate with the stop projections f of every third cam E. The angular arrangement of the electromagnets is apparent from FIG. 10 which shows the electromagnets R as well as R; angularly displaced with respect to the electromagnets R The horizontal series of electromagnets R will cooperate with the stop projections f, of every third cam E, while the electromagnets R; will cooperate with the stop projections f;, of every third cam E. Thus, successive cams E will be controlled by way of selecting electromagnets R R R and because of their angular arrangement shown in FIG. 10 it is possible for the electromagnets to be conveniently spaced as shown in FIG. 6 while acting on a series of compactly arranged cams E. These electromagnetic means R,, R,, R form relays which when energized displace their armatures into engagement with the stop projections so that upon energizing of a given electromagnet, the cam E controlled thereby will be prevented from turning in a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIGS. 8-10.

As is apparent from FIG. 6, the selecting electromagnet R acts on the tooth f of the cam E and as will be apparent from the description which follows at each operating cycle of the electromagnet R is energized so that the cam E cannot rotate.

The several rotary cams E are maintained by a spring means yieldably in engagement with the end edges e of the several bars. For this purpose all of the cams E have front projections G, respectively, and these projections are bridged by an elongated bridging member 25 in the form of an angled bar having an edge engaging the projections G as shown most clearly in FIGS. 9 and 10. The bridging member 25 is carried at its ends by a pair of ears formed with openings through which the shaft 24 passes so that the bridging member 25 is freely turnable on the shaft 24. The spring means includes a pair of springs 26 each connected to one end of the bridging member 25 and to a stationary part of the support means so that the member 25 is urged by the spring 26 in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 9. Thus, the cams E continuously press against the inclined end edges of the several bars and urge the latter toward the left, as viewed in FIG. 5, but the inclination of the slots 13 with respect to the inclination of the edges e and the inclined camming edges of the cam E as well as the force of the springs 26 are such that the bars will be maintained with this structuresat their elevations where the rod means 12, 14 engages the slots 13 at the top ends of the latter. Thus, the yieldable means 25, 26, functions primarily as a restoring means acting to return the several cams to their initial angular positions shown in FIG. 9 and in solid lines in FIG. 10.

As was indicated above in connection with FIG. 2c, a holding means F is provided for engaging the projecting bottom corner of the particular card C, which tilts with respect 'to the remaining cards. This holding means F is also illustrated in FIG. 7. Thus, as may be seen from FIG. 7, the holding means F takes theform of part of the left wall of the casing 11 which is formed witha step or upwardly directed shoulder onto which bottom corner of a card can ride during tilting of the card. I Thus, this shoulder which forms the holding means F is-in the form'of an inwardly directed step extending horizontally along the inner surface of the left wall of the casing 11 asfviewed in FIG. 7. It should be noted'that FIG. 7 also shows in dot-dash lines a card C formed at its bottom edge with notches corresponding to information whichthe card contains, and this card is shown in FIG. 7 in its rest position resting on the'top edges of the several selecting bars as well as the top edge of the additional bar B.

With the above described method and apparatus of the invention a number of cards are situated in a random series in the case 11 resting with their bottom edges on the several bars and with all of these cards being of. the same size and located one directly behind the merit as described above. When a particular card C, having desired specific information thereon is to be selected out ofthe random series of cards, a selecting operation is performed. This operation is performed on unillustrated selecting keys which operate switches of the electrical circuit, and these switches upon closing will energize one or more selecting electromagnets R,-R The energizing of a selected electromagnet will result in the armature thereof engaging a stop projection f -f of a particular cam E as described above. so

that a cam E is selected to be prevented from rotating in a clockwsie direction in opposition to the force of the spring means 25, 26. As was indicated above, at each selection the cam E is also arrested. Thus, on the basis of the specific information which is desired the operator will depress certain switch-operating keys to bring about arresting of selected cams E as well as energizing of the electromagnet R,, to arrest and hold the cam E irrespective of the particular information selection which is made. Immediately after the selection is made the circuit for the motor M is closed as well as the circuit for the vibrators V, and either the entire apparatus or, preferably, only the card case 11, will be vibrated at a suitable amplitude and frequency by means of the vibrators V. This vibratory motion will reduce frictional resistance between adjoining card surfaces, as was pointed out above. At the same time, the motor M starts to rotate first in the direction which brings about raising of the 'bed 15 and then in the direction which brings about lowering of the bed 15. While all of the bars will be raised due to this operation, those bars which are engaged by cams E which are prevented from rotating as a result of energizing of the corresponding electromagnets will move upwardly at a faster rate and will move above all of the other bars. Those bars which are not selected will move upwardly with the bed 15 while having no movement relative to the bed 15, and these bars will rotate the cams E which they engage in a clockwise direction in opposition to the spring means 25,26, so that such bars will occupy the position shown in dot-dash lines for a cam E in FIG. 10. It will be noted that a bar b as shown in dot-dash lines in FIG. 10 in a raised condition to which it has moved with the bed 15, without any relative movement with respect thereto, in order to rotate the illustrated cam E into the dot-dash line position in opposition to the force of the spring means 25,26. At the same time, those cams E which have been selected by the selecting means to be held against rotation will by their front inclined camming edges displace the corresponding bars b and B forwardly so that these bars will move at their slots 13 upwardly along the rod portions 12 and 14. As was pointed out above, thisoperation takes place at every cycle for the additional bar B and at every cycle for a selected one or more of the remaining selecting bars shown at the right in FIG. 7. The angle of inclinationof the end edges e and the camming edges ofthe cams E is different from the angle of inclination of the slots 13 so that the raising of selected bars at a faster rate than the remaining bars which move up only with the bed 15 will be brought about. FIG. 8 illustrates in dot-dash lines howa selecting bar b is raised by an arrested cam E from the illustrated solid line position to the illustrated dot-dash line position. It is to be noted that when any bar has reached the maximum elevation shown in dot-dash lines in FIG. 8 the bottom ends of the slots 13 have not yet reached the rods 12,14. Thus, the lengths of the slots 13 is selected in such a way that they are longer than the maximum range of movement required in connection with raising of the bars with respect to the rod means 12,14, by way of the cams E. In a preferred example of a structure according to the invention while the slots 13 have an angle of inclination of 45 with respect to the vertical the inclined end edges e and of course the camming edges of the cams E have an angle of 18.5 with respect to the vertical. Thus, the angles of inclination of the slots 13 and the camming edges e are chosen in such a way that the inclination angle with respect to the vertical of the edges e and of course the camming edges of the cams E is smaller than the angle of inclination of the slots 13. Of course other combinations of angles are possible.

Thus, those bars which are not selected remain in engagement with the top ends of the slots 13 on the rods l2, l4 and simply turn the cams E in opposition to the spring means 25, 26. However, because the selected bars move upwardly at a faster rate due to the action of the cams E, the selected bars will raise the entire series of cards with respect to those bars which do not move upwardly with respect to the bed 15.

FIG. 3 graphically illustrated the manner in which the bars are raised during rotary movement of the earns 22, one of which is shown at the lower right portion of FIG. 8. The selected bars will be raised in the manner illustrated for the solid curve in FIG. 13 while the nonselected bars will move upwardly in the manner indicated by the dotted curve in FIG. 13. Thus, the ordinate of FIG. 3 indicates the distance through which the bars are raised while the abscissa indicates the angle of rotation of the earns 22. As this angle of rotation increases all of the non-selected bars will be raised through the distance indicated by the dotted curve while the selected bars will move upwardly at a faster rate so as to move upwardly through a greater distance as indicated by the solid curve of FIG. 3. It will be understood from the above that this additional distance through which the selected bars are moved upwardly is brought about by the action of the cams E on the inclined edges e of the selected bars.

Thus, all of the cards, except those cards which are to be retrieved, will be raised to the maximum elevation determined by the additional bar B and the selected bar h referred to above in connection with FIGS. 2a-2d. While it would appear that all of the cards would be raised at the same distance by those bars which are moved upwardly to the maximum elevation, actually whichever cards C has a notch aligned with a selected bar will receive the latter in its notch so that the selected card or cards will necessarily tilt in a clockwise direction around the bar B, as indicated above in connection with FIGS. 2b and 2c. The vibratory motion provided by way of the vibrator V insures that this operation will take place.

The depth of the notches formed in the bottom edges of the cards may be selected so as to be equal to the additional distance through which the selected bars are raised together with the additional bar B, so that the card C, which is to be retrieved will be raised in this way only at one end by the bar B by a distance equal to the maximum distance through which the selected bars are raised while at its opposite end the card to be retrieved will receive a bar such as the selected bar b in its notch, thus resulting in the tilting of the card which is to be retrieved. However, if the depth of the notches is less than the additional distance through which the selected bars are raised, then the card to be retrieved will be tilted also, but the extent to which one end receives in its notch a selected bar will be equal to the difference between the maximum raising distance and the depth of the notch. In either event the card C, which is to be retrieved will be raised through the maximum distance at one end only and will be raised at its opposite end only by a distance corresponding to the distance through which those bars which are not selected are raised, or by only a slightly greater distance, so that in this way the card-C which is to be retrieved will assume an inclined position while all of the other cards will remain horizontal. In this way the particular card C, which is to be retrieved can be distinguished from the other cards. While the additional bar B moves upwardly toward its maximum elevation, the card C,- which is to be selected will assume an increasingly inclined position until the bottom left corner of the card, as viewed in FIGS. 20 and 7 rides onto the holding means F in the form of an upwardly directed step or shoulder, as pointed out above. In this way the card C, will rest at its higher bottom corner on the stepped portion which forms the holding means F, this action of course being aided by vibration. On the other hand, the remaining cards which remain horizontal will never reach the holding means F even with the vibration.

Subsequently, when during the last phase of a given operating cycle the direction of rotation of the motor M is reversed, all of the cards except the card or cards which are to be retrieved will be lowered back to their initial elevations. The card or cards which engage the holding means F will remain in their inclined positions while the remaining cards are lowered, and the extent of inclination of the thus-held card or cards which are to be retrieved will increase, as is apparent from a comparison of FIGS. 2c and 2d, resulting from the lowering of all of the bars back to their initial elevation. The result is that the card or cards which are to be retrieved will be exposed at their upper edges to a substantial extent above the remaining cards which have been lowered and which remain horizontal so as to provide the card or cards to be retrieved with the exposed portion P shown in FIG. 2d. Thus, the operator can readily grasp the projecting portion P of the card which is to be retrieved and remove the card from the remainder of the cards.

It is apparent, therefore, that with the present invention it is possible to achieve a rapid selection of a desired card from a large number of similar cards arranged in a random series. Moreover, with the particular method and apparatus described above it is possible to retrieve a card during a single operating cycle of the motor M. i

What is claimed is:

1. In a method for retrieving a card from a random series of upright cards of the same size arranged one behind the next with the front face of one card engaging the rear face of the next-preceding card and with the cards having bottom edges formed with notches corresponding to items of information on the cards, said cards resting at their bottom edges on a series of parallel bars over which the notches are located and all of which have top edges initially located at the same elevation, said cards also resting at their bottom edges on an additional bar parallel to and situated beyond the series of bars and having a top edge initially at the same elevation as the top edges of the series of bars, the steps of simultaneously raising all of said cards while simultaneously raising at least said additional bar and that one of said series of bars whose position corresponds to the position of a notch on the card which is to be retrieved upwardly with respect to the remainder of the series of bars so that all of the cards are raised by the pair of raised bars while a card having a notch aligned withsaid one of said series of bars will tilt downwardly around said additional bar to receive said raised one of said series of bars in said notch of the card to be retrieved, whereby a bottom corner of the latter card at the side of said additional bar opposite from said series of bars will project outwardly beyond the other cards, holding the latter bottom corner of the card which is to be retrieved at the elevation to which it is raised while lowering the raised bars and the cards which are not to be retrieved back to their initial elevation so that all of the cards except the one to be retrieved move back down to their initial elevations while the card to be retrieved will project freely at a top corner thereof upwardly beyond other cards to be accessible for removal from the random series of cards.

2. In a method as recited in claim 1 and including the step of vibrating the cards during raising and lowering thereof for preventing any card except the card which is to be retrieved from being frictionally retained at an elevation different from the remainder of the cards.

' 3. In a method as recited in claim 1 and wherein all of the bars are simultaneously raised while said additional bar and said one of said series of bars are raised ata faster rate than the remainder of the bars so as to move to an elevation higher than the remainder of said bars. 7

4. In a machine for retrieving a card from a rando series of cards of the same size having bottom edges formed with notches corresponding to information on the cards and said cards being arranged in a row one behind theother with the front face of one card engaging the rear face of the next-preceding card and with the bottom edges of the cards all initially located at the same elevation, a plurality of horizontal parallel bars having top edges all initially located at the same elevation as said bottom edges of said cards with said cards resting at their bottom edges on the top edges of said bars, said plurality of bars including a series of selecting I bars situated in the region of one end of the cards and an additional bar situated in the region of an opposite end of the cards, elevation-changing means operatively connected with all of said bars for raising said additional bar and simultaneously raising a selected one of said selecting bars above the elevation of the remainder ofthe selecting bars to raise all of the cards while that card which has a notch aligned with said one selecting bar will receive the latter in its notch while tilting downwardly around said additional bar to cause a bottom corner of the card which is to be retrieved to project laterally beyond the other cards, selecting means coacting with said elevation-changing means for actuating the latter to select a bar corresponding to the desired information for upward movement beyond the remainder of the selecting bars, said elevationchanging means having an operating cycle during which it lowers previously raised bars back to their initial elevation so that the cards will be lowered back to their initial elevation so that the cards will be lowered back to their initial elevation, and holding means for engaging said bottom corner of the card to be retrieved and holding the latter corner at the elevation to which it has been raised to prevent lowering of the card to be retrieved with the remainder of the cards, whereby a top corner of the card to be retrieved will project upwardly beyond the other cards to be available for removal of the card to be retrieved.

5. The combination of claim 4 and wherein a support means, part of which is formed by said bars, supports said cards in a position resting with their bottom edges on said bars, and vibrating means operatively connected with said support means for acting through the latter on said cards to vibrate said cards for preventing any card except the card which is to be retrieved from remaining at an elevation higher than the remainder of the cards.

6. The combination of claim 4 and wherein said elevation-changing means is operatively connected with all of said bars for raising all of said bars, and said elevation-changing means responding to the operation of said selecting means to raise a selected bar corresponding to the desired information together with said additional bar at a faster rate than the other bars so that said additional bar and the selected bar are raised to an ele vation higher than the other bars.

7. In a machine for retrieving a card from a random series of cards of the same size having bottom edges formed with notches corresponding to information on the cards and said cards being arranged in a row one behind the other with the front face of one card engaging the rear face of the next-preceding card and with the bottom edges of the cards all initially located at the same elevation, a plurality of horizontal parallel bars having top edges all initially located at the same elevation, said cards resting at their bottom edges on the top edges of said bars, said plurality of bars including a series of selecting bars situated in the region of one end of the cards and an additional bar situated in the region of an opposite end of the cards, elevation-changing means operatively connected with all of said bars for raising said additional bar and simultaneously raising a selected one of said selecting bars above the elevation of the remainder of the selecting bars to raise all of the cards while that cardvwhich has a notch aligned with said one selecting bar will receive the latter in its notch while tilting downwardly around said additional bar to cause a bottom corner of the card which is to be retrieved to project laterally beyond the other cards, selecting means coacting with said elevation-changing means for actuating the latter to select a bar corresponding to the desired information for upward movement beyond the remainder of the selecting bars, said elevation-changing means having an operating cycle during which it lowers previously raised bars back to their initial elevation so that the cards will be lowered back to'their initial elevation, and holding means for engaging said bottom corner of the card to be retrieved and holding the latter corner at the elevation to which it has been raised to prevent lowering of the card to be retrieved with the remainder of the cards, whereby a top corner of the card to be retrieved will project upwardly beyond the other cards to be available for removal of the card to be retrieved, said elevationchanging means being operatively connected with all of said bars for raising all of said bars, and said elevationchanging means responding to the operation of said said selecting means to raise a selected bar corresponding to the desired information together with said additional bar at a faster rate than the other bars so that said additional bar and the selected bar are raised to an elevation higher than the other'bars, each of said bars being formed with a pair of inclined slots distributed longitudinally therealong and terminates at one end in an inclined edge, said elevation-changing means including a pair of rod means extending transversely of the bars through theslots thereof, and carrying means carrying said pair of rod means for first raising the latter during a first part of said operating cycle of said elevation-changing means and then lowering said pair of rod means during a second part of an operating cycle of said elevation-changing means, and said elevationchanging means further including a plurality of rotary cams respectively having inclined edges engaging said inclined edges at the ends of said bars, and spring means operatively connected with said rotary cams for yieldably maintaining the latter in engagement with said inclined edges of said bars so that when said bars are raised they will turn said cams in opposition to said spring means while during lowering of said bars said cams will be returned by said spring means to their initial positions with respect to said inclined edges of said bars, said selecting means coacting with said rotary cams for preventing selected cams from rotating, so that a bar engaging a cam which is prevented by said selecting means from rotating will move upwardly beyond the other bars with said inclined slots of a selected bar moving upwardly with respect to said rod means due to the action of a selected cam and the inclined edge of a selected bar, said selecting means operating at each selection toprevent rotation of the one of said rotary cams which engages the inclined edge of said additional bar so that the latter always moves upwardly with a selected bar of the series of selecting bars.

8. The combination of claim 7 and wherein said carrying means which forms part of said elevationchanging means includes a bed formed with grooves which receive all of said bars and said pair of rod means being carried by said bed and each including one elongated rod portion extending through all of said selecting bars and a second coaxial rod portion extending only through said additional bar.

9. The combination of claim 7 and wherein said carrying means also carries a plurality of rollers, said elevation-changing means including rotary cams which engage said rollers to raise the latter and said carrying means and bars therewith, and a means operatively connected with the latter rotary cams for rotating the latter first in one direction to raise said carrying means and in an opposite direction to lower said carrying means during each operating cycle of said elevationchanging means.

10. The combination of claim 7 and wherein each of said cams whose inclined edge engages an inclined edge at the end of a bar has an arresting tooth, said selecting means including an electromagnet having an armature portion which engages said arresting tooth to prevent rotation of an arrested cam in opposition to said spring means by a bar which engages an arrested cam, so that when an electromagnet of the selecting means is energized it will operate to prevent the cam which engages a selected bar from being turned by the selected bar.

11. The combination of claim 10 and wherein said cams are each provided with a plurality of arresting teeth and are located closer to each other than the width of the space occupied by an electromagnet and its armature portion, said electromagnets being angularly distributed about the axis of turning of said cams for coacting with the teeth thereof even though the electromagnets require a space greater than the distance between successive earns.

12. The combination of claim 7 and wherein said cams all have aligned projections in their rest positions and said spring means including an elongated bridging plate extending across all of said cams and engaging said projections thereof and at least one spring operatively connected with said plate for holding the latter against said projections so that the bars can turn the cams while displacing the plate in opposition to the spring with the latter urging said plate against the projections of said cams to return the latter to their initial positions upon lowering of the bars. 

1. In a method for retrieving a card from a random series of upright cards of the same size arranged one behind the next with the front face of one card engaging the rear face of the nextpreceding card and with the cards having bottom edges formed with notches corresponding to items of information on the cards, said cards resting at their bottom edges on a series of parallel bars over which the notches are located and all of which have top edges initially located at the same elevation, said cards also resting at their bottom edges on an additional bar parallel to and situated beyond the series of bars and having a top edge initially at the same elevation as the top edges of the series of bars, the steps of simultaneously raising all of said cards while simultaneously raising at least said additional bar and that one of said series of bars whose position corresponds to the position of a notch on the card which is to be retrieved upwardly with respect to the remainder of the series of bars so that all of the cards are raised by the pair of raised bars while a card having a notch aligned with said one of said series of bars will tilt downwardly around said additional bar to receive said raised one of said series of bars in said notch of the card to be retrieved, whereby a bottom corner of the latter card at the side of said additional bar opposite from said series of bars will project outwardly beyond the other cards, holding the latter bottom corner of the card which is to be retrieved at the elevation to which it is raised while lowering the raised bars and the cards which are not to be retrieved back to their initial elevation so that all of the cards except the one to be retrieved move back down to their initial elevations while the card to be retrieved will project freely at a top corner thereof upwardly beyond other cards to be accessible for removal from the random series of cards.
 2. In a method as recited in claim 1 and including the step of vibrating the cards during raising and lowering thereof for preventing any card except the card which is to be retrieved from being frictionally retained at an elevation different from the remainder of the cards.
 3. In a method as recited in claim 1 and wherein all of the bars are simultaneously raised while said additional bar and said one of said series of bars are raised at a faster rate than the remainder of the bars so as to move to an elevation higher than the remainder of said bars.
 4. In a machine for retrieving a card from a random series of cards of the same size having bottom edges formed with notches corresponding to information on the cards and said cards being arranged in a row one behind the other with the front face of one card engaging the rear face of the next-preceding card and with the bottom edges of the cards all initially located at the same elevation, a plurality of horizontal parallel bars having top edges all initially located at the same elevation as said bottom edges of said cards with said cards resting at their bottom edges on the top edges of said bars, said plurality of bars including a series of selecting bars situated in the region of one end of the cards and an additional bar situated in the region of an opposite end of the cards, elevation-changing means operatively connected with all of said bars for raising said additional bar and simultaneously raising a selected one of said selecting bars above the elevation of the remainder of the selecting bars to raise all of the cards while that card which has a notch aligned with said one selecting bar will receive the latter in its notch while tilting downwardly around said additional bar to cause a bottom corner of the card which is to be retrieved to project laterally beyond the other cards, selecting means coacting with said elevation-changing means for actuating the latter to select a bar corresponding to the desired information for upward movement beyond thE remainder of the selecting bars, said elevation-changing means having an operating cycle during which it lowers previously raised bars back to their initial elevation so that the cards will be lowered back to their initial elevation so that the cards will be lowered back to their initial elevation, and holding means for engaging said bottom corner of the card to be retrieved and holding the latter corner at the elevation to which it has been raised to prevent lowering of the card to be retrieved with the remainder of the cards, whereby a top corner of the card to be retrieved will project upwardly beyond the other cards to be available for removal of the card to be retrieved.
 5. The combination of claim 4 and wherein a support means, part of which is formed by said bars, supports said cards in a position resting with their bottom edges on said bars, and vibrating means operatively connected with said support means for acting through the latter on said cards to vibrate said cards for preventing any card except the card which is to be retrieved from remaining at an elevation higher than the remainder of the cards.
 6. The combination of claim 4 and wherein said elevation-changing means is operatively connected with all of said bars for raising all of said bars, and said elevation-changing means responding to the operation of said selecting means to raise a selected bar corresponding to the desired information together with said additional bar at a faster rate than the other bars so that said additional bar and the selected bar are raised to an elevation higher than the other bars.
 7. In a machine for retrieving a card from a random series of cards of the same size having bottom edges formed with notches corresponding to information on the cards and said cards being arranged in a row one behind the other with the front face of one card engaging the rear face of the next-preceding card and with the bottom edges of the cards all initially located at the same elevation, a plurality of horizontal parallel bars having top edges all initially located at the same elevation, said cards resting at their bottom edges on the top edges of said bars, said plurality of bars including a series of selecting bars situated in the region of one end of the cards and an additional bar situated in the region of an opposite end of the cards, elevation-changing means operatively connected with all of said bars for raising said additional bar and simultaneously raising a selected one of said selecting bars above the elevation of the remainder of the selecting bars to raise all of the cards while that card which has a notch aligned with said one selecting bar will receive the latter in its notch while tilting downwardly around said additional bar to cause a bottom corner of the card which is to be retrieved to project laterally beyond the other cards, selecting means coacting with said elevation-changing means for actuating the latter to select a bar corresponding to the desired information for upward movement beyond the remainder of the selecting bars, said elevation-changing means having an operating cycle during which it lowers previously raised bars back to their initial elevation so that the cards will be lowered back to their initial elevation, and holding means for engaging said bottom corner of the card to be retrieved and holding the latter corner at the elevation to which it has been raised to prevent lowering of the card to be retrieved with the remainder of the cards, whereby a top corner of the card to be retrieved will project upwardly beyond the other cards to be available for removal of the card to be retrieved, said elevation-changing means being operatively connected with all of said bars for raising all of said bars, and said elevation-changing means responding to the operation of said said selecting means to raise a selected bar corresponding to the desired information together with said additional bar at a faster rate than the other bars so that said additional bar and the selected bar are raised to an elevation higher than the other bars, each of said bars being formed with a pair of inclined slots distributed longitudinally therealong and terminates at one end in an inclined edge, said elevation-changing means including a pair of rod means extending transversely of the bars through the slots thereof, and carrying means carrying said pair of rod means for first raising the latter during a first part of said operating cycle of said elevation-changing means and then lowering said pair of rod means during a second part of an operating cycle of said elevation-changing means, and said elevation-changing means further including a plurality of rotary cams respectively having inclined edges engaging said inclined edges at the ends of said bars, and spring means operatively connected with said rotary cams for yieldably maintaining the latter in engagement with said inclined edges of said bars so that when said bars are raised they will turn said cams in opposition to said spring means while during lowering of said bars said cams will be returned by said spring means to their initial positions with respect to said inclined edges of said bars, said selecting means coacting with said rotary cams for preventing selected cams from rotating, so that a bar engaging a cam which is prevented by said selecting means from rotating will move upwardly beyond the other bars with said inclined slots of a selected bar moving upwardly with respect to said rod means due to the action of a selected cam and the inclined edge of a selected bar, said selecting means operating at each selection to prevent rotation of the one of said rotary cams which engages the inclined edge of said additional bar so that the latter always moves upwardly with a selected bar of the series of selecting bars.
 8. The combination of claim 7 and wherein said carrying means which forms part of said elevation-changing means includes a bed formed with grooves which receive all of said bars and said pair of rod means being carried by said bed and each including one elongated rod portion extending through all of said selecting bars and a second coaxial rod portion extending only through said additional bar.
 9. The combination of claim 7 and wherein said carrying means also carries a plurality of rollers, said elevation-changing means including rotary cams which engage said rollers to raise the latter and said carrying means and bars therewith, and a means operatively connected with the latter rotary cams for rotating the latter first in one direction to raise said carrying means and in an opposite direction to lower said carrying means during each operating cycle of said elevation-changing means.
 10. The combination of claim 7 and wherein each of said cams whose inclined edge engages an inclined edge at the end of a bar has an arresting tooth, said selecting means including an electromagnet having an armature portion which engages said arresting tooth to prevent rotation of an arrested cam in opposition to said spring means by a bar which engages an arrested cam, so that when an electromagnet of the selecting means is energized it will operate to prevent the cam which engages a selected bar from being turned by the selected bar.
 11. The combination of claim 10 and wherein said cams are each provided with a plurality of arresting teeth and are located closer to each other than the width of the space occupied by an electromagnet and its armature portion, said electromagnets being angularly distributed about the axis of turning of said cams for coacting with the teeth thereof even though the electromagnets require a space greater than the distance between successive cams.
 12. The combination of claim 7 and wherein said cams all have aligned projections in their rest positions and said spring means including an elongated bridging plate extending across all of said cams and engaging said projections thereof and at least one spring operatively connected with said plate for holding thE latter against said projections so that the bars can turn the cams while displacing the plate in opposition to the spring with the latter urging said plate against the projections of said cams to return the latter to their initial positions upon lowering of the bars. 